{"id":36,"date":"2013-10-15T21:53:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T21:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=36"},"modified":"2013-10-23T03:48:14","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T03:48:14","slug":"rosh-hashanah-5774","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=36","title":{"rendered":"Rosh HaShanah 5774"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Rosh Hashannah 5774<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n

Welcome to the Days of Awe.\u00a0 We might ask \u201cWhy are they called such?\u201d \u00a0Clearly the answer cannot be \u201cBecause RH and YK fall \u00a0now\u201d, since there are other candidates for awesome events in our calendar.<\/p>\n

The Rabbis pondered this question too.<\/p>\n

In the Mishnah we are told that God judges everyone on RH. \u00a0We are not told exactly the criterion that are used, but can assume safely, I think, that God recognizes individual differences and we are judged not on an absolute \u00a0scale, but on the scale of relative to our potential to be a successful Jew.<\/p>\n

That is awesome.<\/p>\n

But it is really in the Talmud that we get to the awesomeness.\u00a0 It says<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cMan\u2019s sustenance is determined between RH and YK\u201d<\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cMan is judged daily\u201d<\/p>\n

At first these seem contradictory, but Rabbi Shalom Dov Baer \u00a0 explained that they are not.\u00a0 He said \u201cdetermined\u201d means that \u00a0between RH and YK the flow of heavenly kindness is set \u00a0for each person for the entire year.\u00a0 Yet the form of\u00a0this kindness is determined daily, translated into the physical world according to how we \u00a0match up against our potential.<\/p>\n

So we are then stuck with the problem of how to achieve that \u00a0\u00a0 potential.\u00a0 To my mind, nobody thought longer and harder about \u00a0 how each Jew can achieve his or her own potential, \u00a0rather than fit into a standard mold, than the last Lubavitcher Rebbe.<\/p>\n

He designed a 10 step program:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tefilin<\/p>\n

\u2022 Torah<\/p>\n

\u2022 Mezzuha<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tzdaka<\/p>\n

\u2022 A house full of (holy) books<\/p>\n

\u2022 Shabbot candles<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sanctity of the family<\/p>\n

\u2022 Kashrut<\/p>\n

\u2022 Education<\/p>\n

\u2022 Love of the people Israel<\/p>\n

This year pick one, or two, or ten and actualize them.\u00a0 How? Well, here are some examples<\/p>\n

Tefilin \u2013 if you have never put on tefilin, learn about them, or speak with one of the local Chabad rabbis to try it out<\/p>\n

Torah \u2013 Try reading a bit of the upcoming Torah portion each day, or reading a Psalm a day, or try simply being rather than doing for just a few hours on Shabbat<\/p>\n

Mezzuza \u2013 Put a mezzuza on the doorway in your home.\u00a0 Renters can use stick-um so that they don\u2019t put nails or screws into a door jam.<\/p>\n

A house full of holy books \u2013 buy a new holy book in hard copy or for your electronic device, or check one out of the Kol Tefilah library<\/p>\n

Shabbat candles\u2013 if you don’t regularly light Shabbat candles, try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens<\/p>\n

Kashrut \u2013 try to by an item with a Hecksher when you are grocery shopping to replace one that does not or go to Trader Joe’s and buy kosher meat even if it costs more.<\/p>\n

What about Tzdaka and Love of the Israel? \u00a0They allow us to jump start this process of achieving our potential. Give to a Jewish organization.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s have it be a truly awesome new year by joining the 10 step program.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Rosh Hashannah 5774 by Marc Mangel Welcome to the Days of Awe.\u00a0 We might ask \u201cWhy are they called such?\u201d \u00a0Clearly the answer cannot be \u201cBecause RH and YK fall \u00a0now\u201d, since there are other candidates for awesome events in our calendar. The Rabbis pondered this question too. In the Mishnah we … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-36","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions\/132"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}